Rate My Professor Earl Scime

Earl Scime is the Oleg D. Jefimenko Professor of Physics and Astronomy in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at West Virginia University, where he has served as faculty since 1995. He received a B.S. from Florida State University in 1987 and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1992, during which he investigated high frequency turbulence and ion-cyclotron instabilities. After his doctorate, Scime worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory as a member of the Ulysses spacecraft plasma team, studying whistler heat flux driven instabilities. At West Virginia University, he has held several leadership roles, including Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Interim Dean of the Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources in 2019, Director of the Center for KINETIC Plasma Physics, and Director of the School of Mathematical and Data Sciences.

Scime's research centers on plasma and space physics, with expertise in both laboratory and space plasmas. His activities include developing techniques for imaging low energy neutrals from space and laboratory plasmas, space plasma instrument design, plasma source development for industrial and scientific uses, single-photon, two-photon, and three-photon fluorescence diagnostics for ion and neutral velocity distributions in fusion and low-temperature plasmas, magnetic reconnection, Thomson scattering for electron velocity distribution functions, microwave scattering, and quantum-enhanced spectroscopy. Notable publications include "Radial evolution of the electron distribution functions in the fast solar wind between 0.3 and 1.5 AU" (Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 2005), "Electron temperature anisotropy constraints in the solar wind" (Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 2008), "Ulysses solar wind plasma observations at high southerly latitudes" (Science, 1995), "Observations of ion-beam formation in a current-free double layer" (Physical Review Letters, 2005), and "Ion acceleration in plasmas emerging from a helicon-heated magnetic-mirror device" (Physics of Plasmas, 2003). His scholarship has garnered over 7,000 citations. Scime has received the WVU Distinction in Graduate Research Mentoring Award (2021), Benedum Distinguished Scholar Award, Eberly College Outstanding Research and Outstanding Teacher Awards, 2015 Outstanding Public Service Award, and 2015 Heebink Award for Distinguished State Service.